Classroom Advice please

Poppy9

When my DD was in primary the school did a briefing for parents in how they were teaching maths are they recognised that parents from a wide age group had been taught different methods. i.e subtraction, I borrow from the top, my eldest sister borrowed from the bottom. Same school but 11 years apart and we had been taught different methods.

Also children often won't list to parents when they are explain how to do homework as "Miss said" .... Miss would include teaching assistants and sometimes they were wrong!!!

OP I would contact class teacher and explain your issues. The class teacher is the class learning leader so all queries/issues should go through her/him. Most children have something they don't quite "get" and often it's just because they "missed" one small part of the lesson (not physically missed but maybe didn't understand, didn't want to ask so dolly daydreamed instead).

meritaten

pigpen wrote: »

sounds normal to me.. if a grown adult cannot do the work of a child under 11 they are in the wrong profession.


Teaching assistants are usually well qualified now to do such work with the children.. it isn't like the old days where they had a mum come in to help.. these are trained, qualified staff. In many ways the TA's do more hand-on teaching because they work with such small groups doing one task and don't have to worry about marking or planning or playground duty or any of the other teachery stuff.

My son was always struggling in class because he felt stupid asking for help in front of the other children.. one of my girls wet herself in class because she was too embarrassed to ask to go to the loo.. and other similar circumstances.. we found a way they could ask questions or say they were struggling without having to announce to the world and feel embarrassed.

One had a pencil case she would put out to ask for assistance, another would have a card they could raise.. Finding out the reason why they wont ask for help in class is the first step.

in my area Teaching Assistants have six weeks training. you think that is WELL QUALIFIED? why bother having teachers educated to degree level?
oh - I know! its so they can do the paperwork and have 'non-contact' time with the children! call me old fashioned but I think the class teacher should actually be the one to TEACH the children.

and as for your son and daughter - words fail me.

bylromarha

Haylescom wrote: »

I'm a primary teacher (10 years) and have never taught such a wide age range in one class.

I've never taught that wide an age, but my friend is teaching that wide a stage in her year 6 class. She has (in old money) level 2 - level 6 in english - thankfully they stream for maths, but her English lessons sound pretty hard work.

rosie-lee

Just to clarify, I have always known that a Higher Level Teaching Assistant takes the whole class for some subjects, French & history & PE but it is definitely a Level 1 teaching assistant who does Yr 4 Maths. On checking with another parent, her daughter confirms they never have do any maths with the class Teacher and I don't want to stir the pot by asking a parent of a child in another year.

Haylescom

Wow Bylromarha, that sounds really hard! We've had a few children still at L2 when reaching year 6 but very rarely and they're usually statemented.

skattykatty

I don't have experience of working in a school small enough to need to mix up such a wide age range, however, I would think that, like at any school, the teacher is ultimately in charge of the children's learning. All initial queries about learning should be directed to the class teacher even if it's the TA that tends to do the small group work with your son. In schools where children are divided up into ability groups it is quite common that some children will only ever be taught directly in that way by a TA.

enthusiasticsaver

You would not normally get a TA taking sole responsibility for a class, however the school your son goes to is unusual if the class spans 4 year groups. I would approach the teacher first to discuss your concerns and raise the point that the TA may need to be involved if they are the only person who teaches your son maths.

blues

I work in education and it is a personal irritation that the most needy children in a class are often sent out of the room to work with the least qualified adult (the TA). The class teacher has the most expertise and should be imparting this on all the children. I would not be happy at all if my child was only being 'taught' a subject by a TA. No disrespect to TAs, but they are not teachers.

duchy

blues wrote: »

I work in education and it is a personal irritation that the most needy children in a class are often sent out of the room to work with the least qualified adult (the TA). The class teacher has the most expertise and should be imparting this on all the children. I would not be happy at all if my child was only being 'taught' a subject by a TA. No disrespect to TAs, but they are not teachers.

My personal observations (from working as a TA) is in some cases they are the best equipped to help a struggling child as they can give them the one to one time that a teacher simply can't. As for TAs being the least qualified - Plenty of TAs are university educated - and also have more life experience than a newly qualified teacher - some teachers value TAs as a resource and use them as effectively as they can to benefit the students.....others don't. There are good TAs and not so good TAs - just as there are good teachers and not so good teachers . Some of the worst teachers I've come across at high school level are those with doctorates -yet theoretically they are the most qualified.

seven-day-weekend

meritaten wrote: »

in my area Teaching Assistants have six weeks training. you think that is WELL QUALIFIED? why bother having teachers educated to degree level?
oh - I know! its so they can do the paperwork and have 'non-contact' time with the children! call me old fashioned but I think the class teacher should actually be the one to TEACH the children.

and as for your son and daughter - words fail me.

I must admit, having Teaching Assistants to teach and qualified Teachers to do paperwork does seem a bit backwards.

It should be Teachers to teach, Teaching Assistants to assist the Teacher and Administative Assistants to do the paperwork.